Even if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pro-growth “Abenomics” strategy fails to turn the world’s third-largest economy around, it still has the chance to win one honor: 2013′s buzzword of the year.

The premier’s last name with the suffix -nomics tacked on was one of 50 phrases nominated this week for the title by publishing house Jiyukokuminsha. The competition is stiff: Mr. Abe will have to beat out air pollutant “PM 2.5,” “big data” and Funabashi, Chiba prefecture’s androgynous pear-fairy mascot Funasshi in order to take home the top prize on Dec. 2. Read More »

First there were “Freeters,” then there were “NEETs.” Now, here come the “SNEPs.”

No, these aren’t the youthful followers of the latest trends who flock to the Tokyo fashion meccas of Shibuya and Harajuku on weekends.

Rather, they are the growing numbers of working-age people who are unemployed, underemployed or socially isolated. While all of these categories seem to be expanding, in an especially disturbing development, a recent study by the University of Tokyo found there were 1.62 million people who were both out of work and who had little contact with people outside their families in 2011. That was about 60% of the 2.56 million single unemployed people in the country. Read More »

About Japan Real Time

Japan Real Time is a newsy, concise guide to what works, what doesn’t and why in the one-time poster child for Asian development, as it struggles to keep pace with faster-growing neighbors while competing with Europe for Michelin-rated restaurants. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, the site provides an inside track on business, politics and lifestyle in Japan as it comes to terms with being overtaken by China as the world’s second-biggest economy. You can contact the editors at japanrealtime@wsj.com